Distributed antenna systems have been used to provide indoor or remote cellular coverage. A distributed antenna system consists of a centralized radio source, e.g., a base station, and multiple remote radio transceivers called “remote radio heads.” The multiple remote radio heads connect to the centralized radio source over a combiner network, e.g., a local area network, when a digital system is employed or an analog network when fiber or coaxial networks are employed.
For transmissions from the base station to the remote radio heads, the signal from the base station may be digitized and converted to form digital baseband packets. The packets are multicast to the multiple remote radio heads over the local area network. At the remote radio heads, the digital signal is then converted to an analog signal and transmitted over the air to a mobile subscriber. Alternatively, analog signals may be transmitted directly to the remote radio heads, and the remote radio heads act as a repeater station. Similarly, for uplink signals, the uplink signals received at the remote radio heads from the mobile subscriber are sent in analog form, or are digitized and packetized, and then forwarded to the base station over the local area network.